This paper examines the themes of identity, female oppression and literature in Janice Mirikitani’s books and Louise Erdrich’s. These concerns will also be considered in the historical contexts, Native Americans and Japanese Americans.
The experiences of the Issei, the first generation of immigrants from Japan, were reflected in works by Japanese-American writers who arrived before World War II. The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882, prohibited all Chinese laborers from entering the United States. The identity issue became more prominent among Japanese Americans during World War II. This was especially true for the Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans). The American ambivalence toward America was evident in the internment literature at that time. Janice Mirikitani is a well-known Japanese American poet. She is part of the third generation, also known as Sansei. She was born on September 11, 1941 in Stockton. Her family and 110,000 other Japanese-Americans were imprisoned during World War II. She received a Bachelor of Arts from The University of California at Los Angeles. She struggled to identify her ethnicity throughout this time.
She was an activist for the poor, homeless and victims affected by racism as the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church’s director. She has been a part of several anthologies, including AYUMI (A Japanese American Anthology) which contains a collection of poems, writings and photographs. Asian American Heritage, among others, was another publication she participated in. Her work focused on social activism and poetry. However, her message was also shared through dancing and teaching. Mirikitani reflects on her struggle to identify her ethnicity through poetry and activism. Mirikitani was committed both to Third World anti-racism and oppression positions, as also to the dismantling of stereotypes associated with Asian-Americans in American culture. Asian-American literature was critical of the distinctions made between Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Koreans, and other Asian culture. Shedding Silence (1987) is a collection that recalls racism and internement, as well as scenes of violence sexually explicit.
She was often harsh, angry, blunt, direct, melancholic and aggressive in her poetry. It was filled with personal experience and inquiry. She was indeed a strong participant in the 1960s social revolutions. These led to American minorities’ cultural development. Many writers explored the implications of being a minority during this period. Another writer Native Americans have experienced wars, dispossession of their lands, and then confinement on reservations. This has resulted in poverty, disease, addictions, and a lack of self-esteem. White Americans didn’t understand Native Americans’ needs. This is why most conflicts were started. Some reformers were genuinely convinced that Indians can be saved by assimilation. The focus was now on trying to make America look good. Assimilation was therefore attempted by drastic changes in Indians’ relations to the land and in their educational system. It also involved a radical change in their lifestyle. But, assimilation often led to Natives being forced to abandon their culture, which invariably leads to intercultural problems.
Louise Erdrich, a famous Native American writer hailing from the Chippewa tribe in North Dakota, is Louise Erdrich. She was actually born in Little Falls in Minnesota in 1954. She wrote poetry and studied poetry. This is evident in her mastery over prosaic languages. She was published a series short stories in 1980, which led to her success as an author.
Dartmouth College was the first place she attended. Erdrich started to look into her own roots and would later use these experiences to inspire short stories, poems, and novels. Her childhood was filled with story-tellers and Erdrich always said that this influenced her writing.
Love Medicine, her debut novel, was published in 1984. It is a collection of stories that tell the story of three Chippewa families. The novel focuses on a deeply religious experience set against the backdrop of an Indian Reservation in 1930s. These reservations were notorious for their poverty and high mortality rates.
Culture was defined as a set of customs, behaviors and practices that were to be adopted by both Anglo-Americans. In fact, many laws were passed by government that allowed Indians to be assimiled into AngloSaxon culture. The European majority used religion only to accomplish their goals. It is important to ask: How much did Natives retain their culture? How did they integrate? These identity questions are addressed in the second chapter of Love Medicine, “Saint Marie”. Jacques Derrida, father of Deconstruction, introduced the concept of binaries. Humans have been taught to see the world in binary terms, where one person is superior and the other is privileged. White/black, male/female are two examples. The binary system of oppression of women and ethnicity can be seen in Louise Erdrich and Mirikitani.
Double consciousness is another important issue. Du Bois used this term to describe an individual’s split identity. These inner conflicts are common among oppressive groups, who have internalized the oppression. This is closely linked to racism and double consciousness. According to Du Bois, “it is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one-self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.”
First, both authors recognize the importance of ethnicity. We live in a racist society and therefore, oppression is common for racial minorities like Native Americans and Japanese Americans. The oppression they experience has profound impacts on their identities and every aspect of their lives.
Both Asian Americans, as well Native Americans, have been subject to stereotypes from white Americans. These stereotypes have led to insecurity and confusions for both of these groups. These stereotypes have caused a lack in self-knowledge and self-stem. These negative stereotypes were reinforced by the need to build Native American and Asian American culture.
Mirikitani was a Japanese American and had lived through this issue. Her poetry reflects her experiences. She writes about trauma and oppression in the first or plural person. She presents “Looking for America,” one of her poems from We, the Dangerous, a list of racist stereotypes that American media portrays Asian Americans as having to deal with.
Mirikitani’s poetry, like her previous statements, embraces politics. This is evident in We, the Dangerous, in which she gives voice to all the Japanese Americans imprisoned during World War II. Mirikitani asserted in 1976 that people from different races can speak for their own interests, but others who study, write and discuss the subject may fall prey to myths and distortions. It is important to note that white Americans write about immigrants in the same way they have always written.
Native Americans faced the same difficulties and insecurity as white Americans when they had to adapt to the new world. Louise Erdrich deals with the issue fragmented identity in her writings. In “Sainte Marie,” a short story about a protagonist who struggles to define her culture identity. Marie Lazarre, a young Indian girl who hopes to become a saint by her village’s convent. Sister Leopolda, an Indian nun, is the first person she meets when she finally visits the convent. As the story continues, we see that Marie and Leopolda have a strange relationship. It seems like they are in a competition, but also a love-hate relationship. This conflict is a sign of tension between cultures.
This is how the story’s main theme, which is the formation and maintenance of identity in bicultural settings, works. Marie holds two opposing views in this example. She wants the title of saint, but she doesn’t want her Indian identity to be lost. Marie could be a combination of the Native and Christian faiths. Marie experiences a double awareness, seeing the world in two different cultures.
Sister Leopolda is also a symbol of a range of spiritual and cultural values. Marie is the Dark One. She represents her pride, her resistance and her imagination. She struggles to choose between her Dark One self and Leopolda’s Light One.
Due to her poetic irony, she is eventually made a saint. Marie Lazarre still chooses to identify as an Indian and not as a Christian nun. This is because they turn their naivety against them.
In the U.S, Asian American and Native American females not only experience racism, but also sexism. They are therefore different from white men and white women, as well as from Native American and Asian American men. This double minority issue will make it more difficult for Asian and Native American women to be successful than their male counterparts. Unfortunately, not all women are aware of the oppression they face. Mirikitani was exposed to double jeopardy as a teenager. She was also sexually abused at the hands of a relative. She became a voice for the marginalized later on. She said that writing allowed her to express herself and put her feelings on paper. Growing up in a patriarchal family and a predominantly white community, I felt invisible.
Mirikitani wrote “Breaking Tradition”, a 1978 poem dedicated to her daughters. Mirikitani compares three generations of Japanese American females, as seen by her mother, daughter, and herself. She shows how difficult it was to strike a balance between roots and traditional values, as well as in assimilation to white culture.
She writes the poem as a mother looking back at her own life and watching her daughter enter womanhood. She compares their lives. Mirikitani claims that she did her best to not be like her mother. Instead, she wanted to get rid of the patriarchal traditions she had been suppressed by. She was unsuccessful in her attempts at breaking with tradition and realizes that her child has the solution. This breaks of tradition leads to conflict between mothers and daughters in the first generation, who expect daughters to continue the old ways. There are many images of a quiet, empty room in the poem. These images symbolize female oppression as well as isolation. This poem gives a glimpse into the rooms of each woman from all three generations. The mother realizes that her daughter is fulfilling the needs of all three generations of women because she has broken tradition.
Louise Erdrich also has feminist messages. Love Medicine has female characters who fight for their rights and freedoms.
Marie Lazarre, a main character in Love Medicine, is Marie Lazarre. Marie, Marie’s young sister, was determined to become a saint. After realizing that Christian beliefs do not benefit her, Marie admits she cannot depend on white Americans. Instead, she prays to God and then gets the thing she desires. Marie is an intelligent, strong woman who manages her household well and earns her living by working for her family and Nector. Marie is essentially a woman who shows women that they can have their life and their own place in the family.
It is not easy to say if they are discriminated against more because of their sex, or their race, in a double minority. The important thing is to understand that both white racism and sexism have negative impacts on Native American and Asian women. Many women are now more aware of these issues thanks to Janice Mirikitani’s work and Louise Erdrich.
